How Mintyai matches receipts to FreeAgent bank transactions

Mintyai does three jobs: it keeps a copy of the FreeAgent transactions that need explaining, it reads your receipts, and it suggests which receipt belongs to which transaction. Nothing is written to FreeAgent until you approve.

1. Syncing your FreeAgent transactions

When you connect FreeAgent, Mintyai fetches transactions from each of your bank accounts. It only looks at money going out, and skips anything FreeAgent has locked.

There are two sync modes in Settings:

• Unexplained (the default): transactions FreeAgent lists as unexplained or marked for review.
• All without attachments: every outgoing transaction that does not yet have a receipt attached.

Mintyai keeps up to the 1,500 most recent of these. It syncs when you sign in (at most once an hour) and once a day overnight.

2. Reading each receipt

Each receipt, whether uploaded or emailed, is read by AI. Mintyai extracts:

• the total, the amount before tax, the VAT amount and the VAT rate;
• the date (a due date is preferred when there is one, because that is usually when the money leaves the bank);
• the currency, the supplier and the invoice or receipt number;
• a short explanation, such as "Software subscription renewal";
• the FreeAgent category that fits best, chosen from your own category list.

3. Finding the matching transaction

Mintyai then looks for a transaction that fits. By default:

• the transaction date must be within 14 days of the receipt date;
• the amounts must agree to within £0.01 (foreign currency amounts in the bank description are also checked);
• the match must reach 60% confidence to be suggested.

Supplier names on bank statements rarely match the name on the receipt, so Mintyai compares meaning as well as text, and learns from the matches you approve.

4. Reviewing and approving

Suggested matches appear on your dashboard and in the transactions table, with the receipt alongside the transaction. You can change the explanation, category and VAT rate before approving, or reject the match.

When you approve, Mintyai creates the bank explanation in FreeAgent with:

• the explanation text;
• the category;
• the VAT rate;
• the receipt attached (PDF, PNG, JPEG or GIF, up to FreeAgent's 5MB attachment limit).

Categories that follow your choices

Each approval teaches Mintyai which category you use for that supplier. Supplier names are normalised, so "AMAZON.CO.UK" and "Amazon UK Ltd" count as the same supplier. Your past choices are also given to the AI when it reads new receipts, so suppliers you have not seen before are categorised the way you categorise similar costs.